LAS CRUCES - On March 29, New Mexico Space Grant Consortium a statewide program awarded eight individuals a total of $159,916.00 in research and education enhancement awards. The NMSGC Research Enhancement Program is designed to provide seed funding to faculty who are striving to conduct research that directly aligns with NASA mission directorates and NASA field centers.

The purpose of this program is to build the core strength needed to develop competitive research and technology development methods and activities for the solution of scientific and technical problems of importance to NASA. The NMSGC Education Enhancement Program is intended to support project-based course development, capstone courses, curriculum or course redesign, course redesign for web-based courses or distance education, and student retention and achievement programs in the undergraduate science, engineering and technology areas.

Those awarded are:

Igor Sevostianov, associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at New Mexico State University and principal investigator for the proposed research titled "Modeling conductivities in assembling battery terminals."

Steve Stochaj, professor, distinguished in electrical and computer engineering at New Mexico State University and principal investigator for the proposed research titled "SmallSat Ground Station.

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David Rockstraw, academic department head in chemical engineering at New Mexico State University and principal investigator for the proposed research titled "Bioinorganic Highly Efficient Flexible Thermoelectric for Producing Energetic Fabrics."

Chunpei Cai, associate professor in mechanical and aerospace engineering at New Mexico State University and principal investigator for the proposed research titled "Gaskinetic Studies on Rarefield Plume and Impingement Flow Problems."

Meeko Oishi, assistant professor in electrical and computer engineering at the University of New Mexico and principal investigator for the proposed research titled "Assuring Information availability in user-interfaces: Hybrid System Observability for Aerospace Systems."

Individuals receiving Education Enhancement awards include:

Thomas Jenkins, professor in engineering technology and surveying engineering at New Mexico State University and principal investigator for the proposed education project titled "Curriculum Development in Exploitation of Earth Observation Systems."

Hongmei Luo, associate professor in chemical engineering at New Mexico State University and principal investigator for the proposed education project titled "Fulfilling Laboratory Essentials in a Nanoscience and Nanotechnology Training Course."

Patricia Sullivan, associate dean of New Mexico State University's College of Engineering and principal investigator for the proposed education project titled "NM BEST Robotics."